PUBG: Battlegrounds is the game that began the battle royale craze on consoles and PCs. It is a game with PC, console, and mobile versions, such as PUBG: Mobile and New State. Those PUBG battle royale games have enthralled players for years. Krafton has recently revealed a new PUBG: Black Budget spin-off game that will expand the PUBG universe into the extraction shooter genre.
Krafton announced the new PUBG: Black Budget game with a November 21 press release on its website. Black Budget has been rumored for some time, but a Closed Alpha Test announcement has confirmed it. The game’s press release states, “KRAFTON INC. today announced that developer PUBG Studios will conduct a Closed Alpha Test for its upcoming title, PUBG: Black Budget, this December.”
A Black Budget game page has also appeared on Steam that includes a variety of screenshots showing an abandoned research facility and jungle landscapes from its map. That page confirms Black Budget will be a first-person extraction shooter in which players are contractors sent to retrieve top-secret technology and artifacts from the Coli map. It has PvPvE (player vs. player vs. enemy) gameplay, for which players fight each other and AI creatures.
Thus, the Black Budget extraction shooter is not battle royale like other PUBG games. As an extraction genre game, its gameplay is more about exploration and discovery rather than pure gun-fighting combat and survival. Its matches are based on a 2.5 x 2.5 km open-world map and include 45 players, with a Anomaly phenomenon that shrinks the play zone. Players can also expand bases, craft new gear, and upgrade characters between missions.
PUBG is jumping on the extraction shooter bandwagon when that genre is growing in popularity. Arc Raiders is a new extraction shooter game that has been a big hit over the last couple of months. Escape from Tarkov is one of the best-established extraction shooters, considered to be a benchmark for its genre, much like PUBG was for battle royale.
If you would prefer to play PUBG: Black Budget sooner rather than later, you can do so by registering for its Closed Alpha Test in December from this Steam game page. A Closed Alpha Test is an early testing phase for a game with a limited number of players. The first test session for Black Budget is scheduled for December 12-14, with a second starting on December 19, in the continental regions of North America, Asia, and Europe. The Closed Alpha Test permits players to stream and share gameplay content during the testing periods.
Kraton has not yet announced an official launch date for PUBG: Black Budget. Nor is it known if the game will be based on the free-to-play model. That might be a possibility, because PUBG: Battlegrounds is a free-to-play game. However, popular extraction shooters like Escape from Tarkov and Arc Raiders are not free-to-play games.
The December Closed Alpha Test will at least provide a good opportunity to sample PUBG: Black Budget without stumping up for the game. With the game in a testing period, a full Black Budget launch might not be far off. Black Budget might be the biggest expansion of the PUBG universe to date, but it will face tough competition from Arc Raiders and Escape from Tarkov in the extraction shooter genre.
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